A long-running show on
PBS that is a year older than
Sesame Street, which complements the show nicely.
While Sesame Street taught letters and numbers,
Mister Rogers showed kids the world of
imagination, taught them how to deal with life’s problems (
anger,
jealousy,
divorce,
losing a pet), and told them they were
special.
Most people will remember how he was very soft-spoken. Fred Rogers was the neighbor everyone wanted, opening each show with his signature song, “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” while changing from suit to sweater (many of which were knitted by his mother) and from dress shoes to sneakers. All I remember was, Why does he keep changing shoes?
Guests from around the neighborhood showed up to help teach the day’s lesson, Mister Rogers would also take the home viewers along on field trips, visiting factories to see how things were made.
Every show featured a trolly taking a visit to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, where the puppets King Friday, Queen Sara, Prince Tuesday, Lady Elaine, X the Owl, Henrietta Pussycat, and Daniel Tiger helped each other and their human friends with problems and concerns.
New episodes were created each year and put into rotation with older ones until Mr. Rogers finally hung up his cardigan for good in late 2000. Even without new episodes, however, the show's place on kiddie TV is secure. It's still a landmark children’s program that will be with us for years to come.